


i can't see you sleeping next to me

by idontreallylikebutterflies (Laulerelelere)



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Skyping, Visiting each other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 20:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6624484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laulerelelere/pseuds/idontreallylikebutterflies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long-distance relationships are hard.<br/>Even more so when Jack's an NHL player and Bitty has two years left of college. They manage. Still, the best moments are when they get to see each other, whenever that may be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i can't see you sleeping next to me

_November_

 

Bitty misses Jack all the time.

It’s normal, he guesses, with how a lot of times Jack doesn’t have enough time or energy to Skype, let alone visit. They manage, usually, sneaking texts during the day, or little videos, or selfies, or whatever they can find time to do.

They’re the only ways they have to talk to each other, sometimes, when there’s not enough time to actually talk to each other. They try, and that’s what is important in a relationship, Bitty guesses, trying, communication, trust and finding time for the other.

Bitty still misses Jack all the time. He used to tell him at the start, feeling sappy really, really in love. He doesn’t anymore. Not because he has stopped doing it, of course, that goes unsaid, but because Jack feels guilty when Bitty tells him, even if he doesn’t say anything. His eyes get this look, like he thinks that it’s his fault and it isn’t, it really isn’t, but Bitty knows that he isn’t going to convince him.

It doesn’t matter that Bitty misses Jack, not really, because they can’t change their situation. Jack’s lives really far away and travels a lot, Bitty is in college and has two years left before graduation.

That’s how it is. Again, they manage.

***

‘’Jack, honey, you’re falling asleep,’’ Bitty says, looking at him. He’s kind of fond of Jack’s sleepy face, but he also kind of hates it.

‘’I’m not,’’ Jack says. He puts his back straighter, like showing that he can totally keep himself awake if he tries.

Bitty doesn’t want him to try.

‘’I know that you want to talk to me, but you played a game tonight. You should rest.’’

‘’Bits, I’m fine. I want to talk to you, we haven’t skyped in four days,’’ Jack says. It’s true, is the thing. Jack’s on a long roadtrip, so they haven’t had much time to talk.

‘’I still don’t want you to be sleepy in the morning. C’mon, go to bed. I’ll even study French until I have to go to bed so you know that I am not forgetting about you.’’

Jack frowns, but sighs not long after.

‘’Okay, okay. I love you,’’ he says, looking kind of worried.

‘’Love you too, hon.’’

Jack closes his laptop, and Bitty does the same with his after he closes Skype.

He does start studying French. To prove it to Jack, he sends (after a while of waiting to make sure that Jack’s sleep and won’t get distracted with his messages) a short video of himself trying to read outloud quotes from his textbook. Jack always finds it funny and slightly awful, ends up chirping him and telling him what he got wrong, so in the end it is helpful.

He falls sleep with the book on his chest. When he wakes up in the morning, an hour before his morning class, a text from Jack is waiting for him.

He was expecting a chirp, maybe a correction, not an audio of someone who sounds like Alexei saying ‘’I don’t understand why Jack laughs, your French is good!’’ and Jack laughing.

He texts Jack back, just telling him that it’s cruel to laugh when nice things are being said to his boyfriend, and gets up. Not having practice on Friday morning lets him get up later, yes, but he still needs to shower and drink coffee before he is a fully functional human being.

***

Jack: _tomorrow’s practice was cancelled_

Jack _: do you have to study something this weekend?_

_***_

The text is waiting for him when his class finishes at three o’clock. Bitty smiles, because really, it’s cute how the first thing that Jack thinks of when he has a free weekend is visiting him. He stops smiling when he remembers that his weekend isn’t exactly free.

***

Bitty: _home match sat morning, can’t go up :((((_

Jack: _oh_

Jack _: i can go down_

Jack _: it’s been a long time since i last saw the boys, right?_

Bitty _: ransom and holster have decided that they don’t know you anymore but i think that if you visit they’ll love you again_

Jack _: haha_

Jack _: i’ll be there in an hour_

Bitty _: what_

_***_

Effectively, Jack is there in an hour.

Bitty is happy to see him, but, apparently, not as happy as Ransom and Holster, who rope him in a group-hug. They are complaining, about how little he calls now that he is famous and people has gone back to writing fanfic about him and Kent Parson. Jack laughs and tries to get away. After two minutes he finally accomplishes it and gets roped on a hug with Lardo, admittedly more normal than the latter, maybe because Lardo couldn’t make Jack stay still on the same place even if she tried. At least, using strength. Jack would probably obey her if she told him not to move.

Bitty has been laughing at the kitchen’s door since Jack came in. Apparently, Jack thinks that he was also waiting for his hug, because as soon as he realizes that he’s there, he gets his arms around him.

‘’Hey,’’ Bitty whispers. God, he had definitely missed him.

‘’Hi,’’ Jack answers. Bitty’s kind of glad that the boys can’t see neither of their faces, Bitty’s hidden against Jack’s chest, Jack facing the wall, because he’s sure that both of them are smiling like idiots.

‘’Why does Bitty get the longest willing hug?’’ Ransom complains. ‘’Dude, I feel betrayed, you’ve known Holtzy and I for longer.’’

‘’Maybe if you two weren’t like an octopus you’d get longer hugs, man,’’ Jack says, laughing, while he steps aside, his arms no longer around Bitty. He doesn’t like that.

‘’Betrayed!’’ Ransom yells, and that kind of settles it.

***

They spend the evening together, showing Jack everything that he’s missed. Ransom and Holster want him to see what’s left on the cafeteria of last week’s food fight. Jack looks kind of interested and Bitty wonders why the hell he is dating him, but Lardo tells Jack that she has some wicked sights that Jack will want to see, and that, of course, wins Jack –and his camera– over.

They end up on the rink.

Ransom and Holster didn’t realize where they were going until they could see the rink –which, considering the fact that they’ve been going there almost daily for more than three years, is sad–, but Jack realized after a minute of walking, his confused expression setting on a smile.

The last time Jack visited, his first visit, a few months ago, they hadn’t had time to visit the rink. He had looked sad when he had been told that he had to be up in Providence for a team thing a few hours before he had expected, which meant that he had to left.

He doesn’t look sad now, staring at the rink, amazed, even if he plays on better places now, against better players.

‘’I’m so sorry, Jack. If I had known that we were coming to the rink I would have told you to bring your skates here,’’ Bitty says, guessing that Jack would have liked to skate for a little bit. He doesn’t doubt that Jack has skates in the truck, but, as much as Jack likes hockey, he doesn’t go everywhere with a stick, a puck, and a pair of skates.

‘’It’s okay, Bittle,’’ Jack says. He looks like it actually is okay, coming back and not being able to skate. ‘’I have my camera. I’ll just take pictures of you guys on the ice, eh? I can’t leave your manager alone.’’

‘’Yes, dude, don’t leave Lardo alone, what if her feet hurt and she can’t get on her tiptoes? How will she see the ring?’’

‘’You assho–’’

Holster runs away towards the locker room before Lardo can throw something at him.

***

They don’t actually put their gear on, because they are lazy. They don’t even grab their sticks, or a puck, they just put their skates on and get on the ice. Bitty can see Jack with his camera, taking pictures of them. Ransom and Holster are making ridiculous poses, getting closer and closer to the camera.

Bitty had missed this. It’s silly, Holster and Ransom are always silly, but everything is somehow funnier when Jack is around, even if a lot of people doesn’t find Jack funny. Hell, he didn’t find Jack funny when they met each other, and Bitty doesn’t know if it is because Jack said the same things and Bitty didn’t listen, or because Jack didn’t making jokes when Bitty was around until last year.

Anyways, it doesn’t matter. They’re both here, and that’s what is important. Jack’s trying to avoid Ransom and Holster, apparently wanting to take pictures of Bitty, and Bitty throws him a kiss.

Ransom and Holster fall to the ice, somehow. While Lardo laughs at them, Jack throws him a kiss back, eyes shining, letting show that he is actually chirping him.

Bitty still thinks that it is lovely.

***

Bitty makes dinner, even if he doesn’t usually actually cook. He also bakes a pie. They wait together until it’s done Jack sitting on the kitchen table, Chowder chatting his ear off about how great his room is and how thankful he is, Bitty texting to the boys that there’s, literally, a pie in the oven.

‘’Chowder, it’s okay, you know that I was glad to give you my room, you don’t have to keep thanking me,’’ Jack says, sounding kind of amused.

‘’But it’s so ‘swawesome!’’ Chowder replies, eyes sparkling.

Before Jack can tell him again that he doesn’t have to thank him, Dex and Nursey, followed by some of the frogs, come into the kitchen.

‘’The pie’s been in the oven for two minutes, how did you do this?’’ Bitty says. He doesn’t think that anyone actually hears him, with how Dex and Nursey are saying hi to Jack and the frogs look like they have seen their childhood hero, which, probably Jack’s not their childhood hero, he’s not that old, but he could be his adolescence hero.

Bitty kind of stops listening to everyone while he finishes making dinner and decides to make another pie, because there’s definitely not enough for everyone. When he’s halfway through it, Jack offers to help. They bake side by side, Bitty’s heart fluttering on a room full of hungry hockey players who won’t stop asking questions (though that’s actually only Tango, he counts as maybe three different people on the question-asking field).

When Jack and him are done, they all eat together, not actually sitting on chairs. Jack and him are standing up against the counter, where Chowder and Whiskey are actually sitting. The rest of them are either standing up, too, or sitting on the table.

It’s nice, even if they are still hockey players who don’t actually know how to eat pie while keeping their mouths closed. They are all together, and Bitty kind of loves them and, really, they are funny and ridiculous and have the decency to leave the pie on a safe place before they start fighting each other, and Bitty thinks that that’s all he can ask for.

***

Jack says that he’s sleeping on the couch. Half an hour after everyone is in their rooms, though, Bitty hears a knock on his door that is, unsurpringly enough, being made by Jack.

‘’Bits?’’ Jack whispers.

Bitty tells him to come in, because he is sleepy and isn’t going to get up off the bed unless it is completely necessary.

Jack comes in and looks at him fondly, which Bitty doesn’t really understand, because he probably has the worst case of bedhead of all time.

‘’Hey. Do you want me to leave so you can rest? You do have a match tomorrow morning.’’

Bitty doesn’t actually answer, but he makes grabby hands. Jack, already on his pajamas, gets the message and closes the door, gets under the covers with him.

It’s chilly, already november, so Bitty snuggles closer to him.

‘’Are you cold? How are you cold?’’ Jack asks, sounding chirpy but also kind of incredulous.

Bitty decides that he doesn’t actually want to answer that question, so he kisses him, soft, his hand sleading towards Jack’s hair until he can pull him closer.

Jack has to put both his hands on the matress so he doesn’t crush him. Bitty doesn’t mind it, kind of likes it, Jack on top of him like a human blanket. He’s really warm, and his lips are really soft, just like his hair.

When Jack pulls away, looking kind of amazed, his hair a complete mess, Bitty makes a sleepy complaining noise. Jack nudges his cheek with his nose.

‘’Go to sleep,’’ Jack says.

Bitty knows that, as much as he wants to keep going, he is going to fall sleep kissing Jack if he doesn’t stop. That doesn’t stop him from complaining, though.

‘’Don’t wanna,’’ he whispers, leaving small kisses on Jack’s cheek, his eyes half closed.

‘’You have to play hockey tomorrow,’’ Jack answers. Bitty can feel his cheek moving against his lips.

‘’But I missed you a lot,’’ Bitty says, moving to the corner of Jack’s lips. ‘’And today I didn’t get to kiss you, handsome.’’

Jack moves his lips against Bitty’s again at that, much less softer than before, Jack’s tongue sliding against his. Bitty’s breathless in no time at all, and Jack chuckles.

‘’You are going to have to work on your cardio, eh?’’ He whispers, sounding no short of breathless himself.

Bitty’s last thought before he finally falls sleep, is that he is going to kill him someday, even though he kind of likes the chirps.

***

When he wakes up, Jack is not with him.

This happened last time Jack visited, too. They can’t really risk someone catching them sharing a bed, so Jack gets up before there’s light out and goes back to sleep in the couch. Bitty misses waking up next to him, like he did the two nights they spent together back at home, but it’s okay.

It isn’t weird to miss something about Jack, or Jack himself. It’s honestly weirder not doing it, so he gets up, takes a shower and gets dressed. When he goes downstairs, the guys are taking breakfast together.

Bitty pours himself a cup of coffee before he says hi to anyone. The guys know how it works, and Jack seems to remember from last year, because no one tries to talk to him until after he finishes his cup.

They don’t really talk much, everyone but Jack in their respective pre-game mindset, and Jack doesn’t seem to mind, with how many times a week he is in the same one.

The game’s at eleven o’clock, which is too soon for a Saturday, or for any day of the week, really. Bitty and Jack don’t really talk before the game, Jack catching up with the guys, Bitty listening to his pre-game playlist.

Just before they head to the rink, though, Jack ropes him into going back to his room while the boys are distracted.

‘’Good luck,’’ Jack says when the door is closed behind them. He kisses him right after, soft, slow, giving Bitty chills with how good it is.

‘’You should have wished me good luck this way before every match last year,’’ Bitty says, a little dazed, filter not working.

Jack laughs, soft, against his lips. ‘’I should have,’’ he agrees, kissing his cheek ‘’C’mon, let’s go. We’ve got to leave. You are gonna play great.’’

*** Bitty doesn’t play great. No one does, really. Even if their moral is up with Jack there, their passes don’t connect. Bitty scores a goal during the first period, but during the last one he gets checked against the boards. Adding that to the lost, Bitty’s mood is not the best when they go back home.

Jack had been cheering for them, and after eating lunch, when Bitty decides to take a nap, he goes upstairs with him, quiet, though that’s actually both of them.

They lay next to each other on the bed, not talking. Bitty’s okay with the not talking part, because they spend all their time apart talking when they can, but when they are apart they can’t touch each other. But there’s another part, the part where lays the reason why they aren’t talking, that Bitty doesn’t like. He is going to talk before Jack actually does it before him.

‘’Hey, are you okay? You got checked really hard,’’ Jack says, voice almost a whisper. It’s normal, because sometimes they skype really late and during the day the noises the boys make are enough to muffle whatever they say, but once everyone’s sleeping Bitty doesn’t want to risk someone listening them while they go to the bathroom, so they talk low, muffling their laughs when the other says something ridiculous.

‘’I am fine, Jack,’’ he whispers back. He takes advantage of the fact that they are talking to each other now and puts his legs over Jack’s.

‘’You don’t sound fine,’’ Jack answers, sounding, even as he puts his arms around him, grumpy.

‘’I am. It’s just that I am tired and this match wasn’t really celebration-worthy.’’

‘’I know, but I don’t want you to be sad,’’ he still sounds kind of grumpy, but it’s being overtaken by fondness, now.

‘’I’m not sad,’’ Bitty says. Jack makes a little noise, so Bitty corrects himself. ‘’I am a little sad, but it’s okay, because I win and lose hockey matches all the time, and there’s a lot of season left.’’

‘’What a soundbite, eh?’’ Jack says, sounding amused. His hand is stroking Bitty’s back, and it’s relaxing enough that Bitty falls sleep surrounded by his arms, again, for the second time in less than twenty four hours.

***

The rest of the evening, once they wake up, is spent down with the boys, because as much as it hurts Bitty not being able to be around them and kiss Jack at the same time, he knows that, even if Jack mostly came to Samwell to see him, he also did it for the boys.

They don’t throw a kegster, but it’s a near thing, honestly. Bitty has to steal Ransom and Holster’s phones to stop them, because apparently getting drnuk after a loss is their thing.

After dinner, they crash on the living room’s floor, which means  that Jack can’t sleep with Bitty. Bitty doesn’t want to risk kissing him when there are other people in the room, even if they are sleeping so deeply that they could as well be dead, so he just squeezes his hand and goes upstairs.

When he checks his phone before falling asleep, there’s an emoji of a kissy face waiting for him, sent by, of course, Jack.

***

Bitty wakes up next morning with a kiss from Jack.

‘’I offered to come upstairs and wake you up. You have to make pancakes for Ransom and Holster. They have a hangover,’’ Jack says, an arm to each side of Bitty’s head, a knee to each side of Bitty’s waist.

‘’Oh, only for them? Aren’t you going to eat?’’ Bitty jokes,

‘’I can’t. My nutritionist will kill me.’’ Jack answers, nudging his cheek with his nose.

‘’You can and you will, mister,’’ Bitty answers, putting his hands against Jack’s back and making him rest completely on top of him, even if Bitty is _completely not_ using him as a human blanket.

Jack makes a noise, but doesn’t deny the fact that he is going to eat pancakes, so Bitty assumes that he has won. He kisses him, noses bumping together once, making them laugh, before they start making out, fast and hard, because they really don’t have time for slow.

Effectively, there’s a knock on the door.

‘’Bits, makes us pancakes, dude!’’

Jack makes a complaining noise before rolling off him that Bitty agrees with, thank you very much.

***

Jack leaves after having breakfast. They hug each other again. It doesn’t last much, even if they don’t know if they will even get to see each other before Christmas or _during_ Christmas, because they are in public, the boys and Lardo all together to say goodbye to Jack.

‘’I’ll miss you,’’ Jack whispers before he stops hugging him and gets in the truck.

Bitty doesn’’t think that he even stopped missing him.

***

Jack texts him when he gets there, which is nice. Bitty carries out with his day, but when he’s about to go to bed at night, just checking his Instagram, he gets reminded how much he is going to miss days like this one.

Jack has uploaded one of the pictures of the rink to his Instagram, Bitty throwing him a kiss with his eyes closed, Ransom and Holster fighting, about to fall to the ice.

He smiles. Below the picture, Jack’s written ‘’saw my old teammates this weekend. yes, they did fall to the floor’’.

He closes his eyes, still happy about the picture, about to fall sleep, before he hears a knock on the door.

‘’Dude! We are Instagram-famous now! Bits!’’

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! As always, thank you for reading. Comments and kudos are appreciated.   
> I don't know when I'll be uploading next chapter, but hey, right now this works as a stand-alone so!  
> Remember that English is not my first language, please be kind, tell me if there are any mistakes :*  
> Also, thanks to everyone who follows me on Tumblr (600 followers!!! wow) and specially to Jett (silent-hummingbird.tumblr.com) because they always put up with my excitement when I hit a word-mark. Any word-mark.  
> You can follow me on Tumblr (idontreallylikebutterflies.tumblr.com)  
> I wrote this in like a day and now I am in hell.   
> Again, thanks for reading!


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